This is the biggest battle I have faced but now I can get through anything life throws at me
Amy Callaghan opens up to Annie Brown in first full interview since her stroke
“everything” during her four-month hospital stay.
At the end of June, the drain in her head was removed but the blood started to pool again and the violent headache returned. She was rushed back to theatre for another drain to be inserted.
Amy spent a week in a high dependency unit but once she was stabilised, she was ready to tackle physiotherapy.
She said: “Physiotherapy became the highlight of the day. It took up about five hours each day and it was my chance to help myself, to do as much as I could to get better faster.”
It was an arduous process, first learning to sit upright then, as movement came to her leg, she was able to stand and eventually walk with a frame. She said: “When I did my first lap of the gym in a zimmer frame, it was the most amazing feeling. My goal was to be able to walk. Anything to gain independence.”
One night in July, as she lay in bed, she was suddenly able to move her arm and though it was barely an inch, it was significant progress.
Amy said: “One of the nurses was there and we were both so emotional. I was crying tears of pure joy.”
The rehabilitation ward was on the ground floor so she could talk to her family through the window.
Amy even had “date nights” with Sean, when they would have pizza and watch a movie in sync over FaceTime.
She said: “Sean has been my rock. It has been so difficult for my parents and my brothers but they all stuck together and supported each other.”
Although hospital could be tough, Amy bonded with other patients and together they sought out fun wherever they could.
On Fridays, they played music – with Sir Elton John’s I’m Still Standing becoming their favourite tune.
She said: “It wasn’t all doom and gloom. We had to see the funny side of it. There were times I wanted to cry but there was more laughter than tears.”
Amy was released from hospital on October 15 and can now walk largely unaided and lift her arm to the ceiling. She said she misses her “second family” in hospital and is more determined than ever to protect our “precious” NHS.
In one of the most memorable nights in the 2019 UK election, Amy beat Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson in East Dunbartonshire.
She said: “I love being an MP and my constituents have been so kind. There is no time to be sick and I continued working from my hospital bed.
“I have never stopped fighting for myself and I will use that strength and resilience to fight for my constituents.”
The long hair she once used to hide her facial scar from cancer is now short and, in many ways, Amy is stronger than ever.
She said: “Now I am proud of my scars because they show what I have come through.
“I feel great and am confident I will just keep getting better.”